ZNS Officers raid shop, nab Woman Trader for selling Eagle Mealie-meal at K250!
This is the saddest day for any small trader.
Marketeers and traders only respond to market forces. There is a critical shortage of affordable mealie-meal on the market and the traders are not official outlets for ZNS and are not obliged to resell at ZNS Prices!
What’s ZNS Commander, Lt. Gen.Solochi and his men doing in uniform harrasing traders in townships? What indiscipline is this? Can’t he ensure that his official outlets are fully stocked and sell the commodity sell under his parameters? Are we back to price controls in Zambia.
The only reason traders find themselves with ZNS Eagle mealie-meal is that there is a critical shortage of affordable mealie-meal on the market and the real price of the commodity is hovering K300-K400.
With ZNS selling mealie-meal at K230, and the actual market price is around K350, it is an inevitable factor that a black market will emerge!
Solochi must only put parameters at his outlets, like sell only one bag per person. He can’t unleash officers and roam markets and home shops harrasing citizens reselling the commodity.
BELOW IS THE STORY
ZNS Officers raid shop, nab Woman Trader for selling Eagle Mealie-meal at K250!
Solochi target traders
A SHOPKEEPER at the controversial ‘More Grace, More Favour’ wholesale shop in Mtendere Compound in Lusaka this morning was arrested to obstruct a Zambia National Service (ZNS) operation targeting illegal price hikes
The woman was arrested for selling Eagles Mealie Meal at the prices above the government mandated K230 and was raided around 05:00 hours.
At the time of the raid, Mwambazi had already sold 18 bags of mealie meal at K250 leaving 732 bags, which were subsequently confiscated by ZNS officers.
When confronted about the illegal sale, Mwambazi told ZNS Commander, Lieutenant General Maliti Solochi, she said the shop only adds a K20 from the original government set price, contrary to what her customers said.